Keywords Exhibition

Art, Culture and Society in 1980s Britain

A dynamic exhibition and lecture programme looking at how changes in the meaning of words reflect the cultural shifts in society. Keywords is presented in partnership with Tate Liverpool and is based on Raymond Williams’ seminal text – Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society

Words stay the same but their use often changes.

These cultural shifts in society fascinated Raymond Williams, who in 1976 published the seminal book, Keywords – a vocabulary of culture and society, in which he analysed the use and meanings of over a hundred words such as anarchism, originality, genius and democracy.

This March, Iniva presents an expansive programme of exhibitions, lectures, film and learning projects in partnership with Tate Liverpool, expanding on Williams’ studies of words into three-dimensional form.

Keywords draws on loans from Tate Collection and explores words through works of art. The works date from 1976 focusing on material from the 1980s and early 1990s, including a frieze commission by Luca Frei and Will Holder.

Keyword Lectures examine terms such as Equality, Theory and Sex, and Keywords Investigations invites you to explore your own words as part of a 10-week workshop.